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Voice Big has done a few edits to the gun legislation letters. It has been a learning experience as we do more research and speak with more people.

My initial understanding about guns came from my personal perspective and through this process I learned my experience did not reflect the majority. In my world guns are primarily for hunting and sport shooting. I had no idea the vast majority of people own guns specifically for protection and that was a big change in my thinking. We live in a rural area where crime is rare and personal safety is taken for granted.

We looked at how private gun ownership is viewed in other countries such as Switzerland. Switzerland has mandatory military service and most people keep their military firearm when they are done. They have one of the higher percentages of gun ownership in the world and some of the lowest gun crime numbers.

We came to the conclusion that the majority of US citizens want some type of background verification, training and accountability for gun owners. It was also our experience that open carry was not that welcome in every day settings. We found organizations dedicated to responsible gun ownership such as https://www.responsibleownership.org/ which has a small but growing membership.

We found that law enforcement is frustrated by the sheer numbers of guns that are stolen every day from unlocked vehicles and unsecured guns used in accidental shootings by young children. That led us to doing a 5/22/18 facebook post about responsible gun ownership https://www.facebook.com/VoiceBig/ That post received over 13,000 views 900+ reactions and 470+ comments.

Congress has been reluctant to deal with new gun legislation. We recognize it is a tough topic to tackle but isn’t that why we put them in office? To tackle the tough issues?